Matriarch of San Antonio restaurant family slain

Published 7:00 pm, Thursday, April 24, 2008

Police arrested a suspect Friday in the slaying of the 76-year-old matriarch of a San Antonio restaurant family who was found dead inside her burning home.

Authorities said they're filing a capital murder charge against an 18-year-old neighbor of Viola Barrios, who ran the city's popular Los Barrios and La Hacienda de los Barrios eateries. Joe Estrada was arrested overnight, police said.

"He admitted that there was no one else involved in this murder and that it was he and only he who broke in and committed the crime," Police Chief William McManus said.

McManus wouldn't speculate on how Barrios died, pending a report from the medical examiner.

McManus said a neighbor called 911 Thursday morning to report that Barrios' silver Mercedes was not parked in its usual spot and that someone was near the car. When police arrived, the person was gone.

Later Thursday, another person called police to say that they saw someone driving Barrios' car. The car was later found at an apartment complex.

Authorities said the house was intentionally set on fire. McManus said credit cards also were stolen from the house and used.

"The motive was burglary and yes, I guess you could say it was bungled," McManus said.

Police first brought Estrada in for questioning, then released him and got an arrest warrant. Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed said Estrada was to be charged with capital murder.

"As of right now I'd like to go string this guy up myself," Reed said, adding that seeking the death penalty is a possibility.

It was not clear whether Estrada had a lawyer. His bond was set at $1 million. There was no answer at a phone listing for an Estrada on the same street as Barrios' home. As he was put in a police car outside police headquarters Friday morning, Estrada didn't directly answer questions about the crime.

Barrios, who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico as a girl, started Los Barrios as a young widow in 1979, hoping to support her three children. For nearly 30 years she worked seven days a week, making tortillas and enchiladas and managing the restaurant that became one of San Antonio's best-known. Eventually she opened a second restaurant, La Hacienda de los Barrios.

"She was a burden reliever," said her son, Louis Barrios. "She wasn't a burden maker."

Louis Barrios said funeral arrangements were pending and that family planned to start a foundation, Viola's Huge Heart.

Early next month Viola Barrios was set to move out her modest home to a large estate in a gated community.

"My mother was targeted because of her success," Louis Barrios said.

Yolanda Arellano, executive director of the San Antonio Restaurant Association, said Barrios will be inducted into the Texas Restaurant Association's Hall of Honor in June.

"She is the epitome of the American dream," Arellano said. "She started with $3,000. She made it a point to visit customers. She had this warmth about her."

Arellano said Viola Barrios had often appeared on local and national morning news and talk shows. She had a cameo when her daughter, Diana Barrios Trevino, appeared on a Food Network episode of "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" to cook puffy tacos, Arellano said.

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Diana Barrios Trevino wrote a cookbook of her mother's recipes, "Los Barrios Family Cookbook: Tex-Mex Recipes from the Heart of San Antonio."